Stocks Seesaw From Big Gains, to Losses, and Back Again
*By Carlo Versano*
What the market giveth, the market taketh away...or does it?
After coming out of the gate roaring Friday morning, the Dow Industrials gave back 400 points worth of gains and turned negative midday. But just a few minutes later, around 1:10 pm ET, the index was back up triple digits. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was up about 1.4 percent.
While stocks were well off their highs of the day, tech names, which saw some of the biggest losses over the previous two days, were largely higher Friday. Four of the so-called FAANG stocks ー Apple ($AAPL), Amazon ($AMZN), Netflix ($NFLX), and Google parent Alphabet ($GOOGL) ー added a combined $67 billion back to their collective market cap. The only one that was down was Facebook ($FB), which provided an update to the data breach announced last month, saying attackers stole data from 29 million users.
Trading was once again choppy amid a mounting heap of concerns over the global economy, trade tensions, interest rates, and a slowdown in tech.
The major indexes are on pace for their worst week since March.
Tyson Foods is eliminating about 10 percent of corporate jobs and 15 percent senior leadership positions, according to a memo obtained by Reuters. The cuts are just the latest attempt to trim costs amid falling profits.
Verizon is taking steps to speed up its 5G network in rural areas. The company said it plans to extend its C-band 5G network across a larger suburban and rural footprint, meaning faster speeds for customers in those areas.
Facebook parent company Meta's first-quarter results surpassed Wall Street's modest expectations on both profit and revenue, sending its stock soaring in after-hours trading.
Another automaker is trying to cut its workforce to trim expenses and stay competitive as the industry makes the long and costly transition to electric vehicles.
The U.S. economy slowed sharply from January through March, decelerating to just a 1.1% annual pace as higher interest rates hammered the housing market and businesses reduced their inventories.
Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. fell last week as the labor market continues to show strength despite some weakness in other parts of the economy.
